CONTRIBUTIONS: biological

developmental disorder that is characterised by an impaired ability to communicate. it affects males more than females (10:1 ratio)

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EXPLAINING AUTISM: how is autism explained by this approach?

as being an extreme male brain condition: autistic brains grow faster, are heavier, lateralise more and have smaller corpus callosum than male brains which have all that more than female brains

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EXPLAINING AUTISM: how is it a contribution?

1)parents to understand autism so they can get the best support for kids so they develop as normally as possible e.g. by accepting the exaggerated characteristics like inability to show emotion 2)used to identify autism more quickly - earlier support

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EXPLAINING AUTISM: two strengths

1)reliable and objective supporting research in form of brain scans 2)valid explanation because autistic people show exaggerated observable male characterstics e.g. lack of empathy, difficulty showing emotions

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EXPLAINING AUTISM: two weaknesses

1)cannot contribute towards a treatment because brain structure is fixed 2)doesnt consider environmental triggers of autism e.g. age of mum at conception, or genetics which has strong research links

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER: outline how sex is determined

hormones and genes are implicated. XX coding for female, XY coding for male. acknowledges that some people are wrongly assigned their gender at birth which can be distressing as they develop

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER: what study supports this explanation?

Money's study

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER: how is it a contribution?

1)ensuring mental health support is available (maintaining good mental health in society) for trans people who would have had traumatic life 2)hormone therapies for trans people

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER: two strengths

1)reliable research from DNA testing that gives evidence for involvement of genes and hormones in gender 2)people with sex differences (different genes/hormones) display similar observable differences which suggests it is a reliable explanation

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER: two weaknesses

1)lots of the gene research conducted on animals so generalisability issues to humans 2)reductionist as doesn't consider nurture fully: psychodynamic explanation which says the oedipus complex determines gender